


All Was Golden in the Sky

by foghaslifted



Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon), Tangled (2010)
Genre: F/M, i hate making titles and descriptions, its just lance and eugene as kids in corona then some new dream at the end
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-16
Updated: 2020-10-16
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:26:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27051886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foghaslifted/pseuds/foghaslifted
Summary: Flynn Rider was 13 the first time he saw the lanterns. They were everything he thought they would be and more. What he didn't expect was for them to change his outlook on life.Title inspired by "When the Day Met the Night" by P!ATD
Relationships: Eugene Fitzherbert | Flynn Rider & Lance Strongbow, Eugene Fitzherbert | Flynn Rider/Rapunzel
Comments: 3
Kudos: 26





	All Was Golden in the Sky

Flynn was 13 the first time he went to Corona.

He was excited to finally go somewhere where no one knew him as Eugene. In Vardaros, there were plenty of people that still thought of him as “poor orphan Eugene.” He hated it. He didn’t want to be known as an orphan, he wanted to be known as a legend.

That’s why he liked going by Flynn Rider. Flynn Rider was rich and famous, Eugene Fitzherbert was neither of those things.

He and Lance had just left the orphanage a few days ago. He planned on going back eventually, he just wanted to see more of the world than an orphanage. He also figured that they could get some nice things in Corona. They had heard about some big festival happening, and when they found out it was only a few days away, they decided to sneak out and go.

They were immediately met with crowds of people. Flynn had never seen so many people in one place. _Might make it easier to take some things off their hands,_ he thought. If people were bustling around, there was no way they would notice a few dollars gone from their pocket. Lance and Flynn had done a little bit of thieving before, just some pickpocketing here and there, but Flynn wondered what it would be like to take something big. _It’s not like any of those rich people would miss it._

Lance nudged him out of his thoughts and pointed to a shop across the street. Flynn squinted at the sign. “A Sweet Shoppe?”

Lance nodded. “Come on, when was the last time we had something good?” he said, walking towards the shop.

Flynn started following. “So what’s the plan?” he asked. Lance shrugged.

“I guess we’ll just take it and run,” he answered.

Flynn sighed. “We’ve been in this kingdom for 5 minutes, we don’t need the guards on our trail already.”

“Well, do you have a better plan?"

He hesitated, trying to think of something. “What if you distracted the owner while I took the candy?”

“See, now we have a plan! That’s called teamwork.”

“What? But I made the plan!”

“Yeah, and I was the one that decided to go to the Sweet Shoppe. So it was a team effort.”

Flynn rolled his eyes. They made it to the door and walked in, and he immediately felt out of place. Most of the other kids here were dressed in nice clothes (well, nice compared to the rags that the two of them were wearing). The kids there all had their parents with them, too. He watched as a kid tugged on her mom’s hand as they looked at the chocolate sculptures on display. His stomach flipped a bit watching these kids interact with their parents, but Lance was focused on the food.

He was ready to put the plan into action before the owner came up to both of them. “How do you boys do?” he asked. “I don’t think I’ve seen you here before. I’m Monty, but most people call me Uncle Monty.”

Flynn started to smile. He started to feel bad that he was planning on stealing from this man. He seemed to be nice, and he wasn’t trying to kick them out. That’s when he came up with a new plan. He glanced at Lance, who seemed to be thinking the same thing.

“Hi, Uncle Monty. My name’s Lance, this is Flynn. We came all the way from Vardaros for this festival.”

“We’re from the orphanage,” Flynn added, hoping to score some sympathy points.

“And we just really wanted some candy… because we’ve never had any before,” Lance sighed dramatically. That was mostly a lie, they had had candy before, but only on rare occasions.

However, it seemed to be working on Uncle Monty. “Well, gosh, I’ve got plenty of candy here, just take your pick!” he exclaimed.

Flynn did his best to make his eyes tear up. “But we don’t have any money…” he said sadly.

“No problem, it’s on the house!” he told them. “Everyone could use a little sweetness in their life.” Lance and Flynn smiled at each other and thanked Monty as they went to grab some lollipops. Then, they sat down near the cash register to continue talking to Uncle Monty.

“So what’s this festival for?” Flynn asked. “I know there’s something with the lanterns and the princess, but what does she need the lanterns for?”

“Oh, see, the princess was taken from her family as a baby, and now the king and queen send lanterns into the sky so she can see them and return someday,” Monty explained.

“Do you think she’ll see them?” Lance asked.

Monty shrugged. “We can only hope.”

Lance and Monty soon changed the subject, but Flynn couldn’t stop thinking about the lost princess. For all anyone knew, she could be dead, but they still threw this party to try to find her. He wondered why anyone would want to steal a baby in the first place, and he wondered what you would do with a stolen baby.

What was so great about a stolen baby anyways? If the kidnapper wanted a baby they could have just gone to the orphanage, there are plenty of kids there. What makes a princess baby better than any other baby, especially if the baby doesn’t even know she’s a princess?

He thought about Flynnagan Rider. In one of the books at the orphanage, Rider saves a princess from a fire breathing dragon, and the whole kingdom rejoices. The princess even offered Rider gold, but he said no because he just did it to save her.

Flynn wondered if he could do the same. Maybe he would find this princess and save her from whatever lizard monster or witch that trapped her, and the whole kingdom would regard him as a legend just like Flynnagan Rider (though if they offered him gold he wouldn’t turn it down like Flynnagan did).

He shook his head at himself. He couldn’t get his hopes up. The princess was probably far away by now, and everyone only knew her as a baby. He didn’t know how long she had been gone, but she definitely didn’t look like a baby anymore. If she didn’t know she was the lost princess, no one would.

“Flynn?” Lance said snapping him out of his thoughts. “You’ve been quiet for a while, that’s not like you,” he joked. “Whatcha thinkin’ about?”

Flynn smiled and shrugged. “Just enjoying this lollipop.”

Flynn and Lance spent the rest of the day talking to Uncle Monty. Monty looked out the window as it started getting darker. “You boys better get going if you want to get a good view of the lanterns. You never forget the first time you see something like that.” The boys thanked Monty for the candy, then were on their way to find a good spot, preferably in a large crowd. They planned to make some money off of this trip too. Just like they had done during the Empyrean Showers, they would wait until the lanterns were in the sky and do a bit of pickpocketing while everyone was distracted.

Suddenly, he looked up and saw a lantern in the sky. As soon as he saw that one, lanterns started raising all around him. “Wow,” he said. Lance was looking up too. The sky was entirely lit up with these lanterns. It looked amazing.

His mind wandered back to the princess. The king and queen were willing to do all of this for their daughter because of how much they cared about her. The people of Corona sent out hundreds of these lanterns into the sky because they all cared about this baby that they hadn’t seen in years.

It made him think about his parents. He had always thought of them as rogues like he wanted to be, and that they would come back to the orphanage soon enough. But seeing this made him think that wasn’t meant to happen. The king and queen worked so hard to find their daughter, and his parents had left him at an orphanage.

His parents didn’t really love him. He hadn’t exactly made himself hard to find, that’s why he always came back to the orphanage. He was ready for his parents to come back to get him at any moment, but seeing how much effort the princess’s parents put into finding her, he realized that his parents didn’t care.

His eyes started to well up with tears, but he quickly blinked them away. He’s Flynn Rider, Flynn Rider doesn’t need anyone. All he needed was money and fame. _Flynn Rider, legendary thief._ He liked the sound of that. And once he stole enough that he didn’t need to steal anymore? He would get himself an island all alone. He still wouldn’t need anyone, he’d have his own island. With lots of money. And maybe girls.

He and Lance had both gotten distracted by the lights and didn’t do any pickpocketing, but Flynn was thinking past pickpocketing now. No orphan pickpocket was ever thought of as a legend. “Hey Lance?”

“Yeah?”

“What would you say if we didn’t go back to the orphanage? And started stealing more instead?”

Lance grinned. “I would be on board. Lance and Flynn, legendary crime duo, right?"

Flynn nodded and grinned back. But he and Lance wouldn’t be a duo forever, Flynn Rider didn’t need anyone else. _Every man for himself,_ he thought.

**

“What are you thinking about?” Rapunzel questioned, slightly nudging his side. Eugene had been silently staring at the lanterns for a while. They were sitting in their boat as the lights floated in the sky, his arm around her as her head rested on his shoulder.

Eugene turned to her and smiled. “Just thinking about the first time I saw these lanterns.”

“When was that?”

“I think about 15 years ago. It was the first time Lance and I went to Corona. It was… bittersweet.”

“Why bittersweet?”

He sighed. “It was the first time I think I truly understood my parents weren’t coming back for me. I saw what your parents were willing to do to find you, and I realized that my parents weren’t even looking for me.”

“Eugene…” she said softly, grabbing his hand.

“It’s alright, though, that’s when the “sweet” part of bittersweet comes in. Because of that, I realized that I wasn’t gaining anything waiting around at that orphanage, so that’s when Lance and I decided to go out on our own and start living life,” he said. “If that hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t have met you. Plus, meeting you did end up leading me to meet my dad, so it all worked out in the end.”

Rapunzel frowned. “I still don’t like the thought of little Eugene giving up all the hope he had, even if it did lead to us meeting. I would live in that tower for the rest of my life if it meant you could live a happy life.” He gave her a small smile.

“Sunshine, I’m the happiest anyone could ever be _because_ you’re not living the rest of your life in that tower.”

She leaned further into him and smiled, but she couldn’t get over the fact that Eugene stopped dreaming because of a lantern ceremony thrown for her. But it didn’t matter what happened in the past. They couldn’t change it, they could only love each other in the present. They were there, and they were together watching these lanterns for the fifth time in a row.

“You know, we’ve probably been watching these lanterns together for years without knowing it,” Rapunzel thought out loud.

Eugene looked at her. “What do you mean?”

“You said you were watching these lanterns 15 years ago, I was at my window watching them too. We were watching the same lanterns for years before we met.”

He laughed. “Well, when you put it that way, maybe we really were meant to be. Along with the hundreds of other people watching, too,” he teased.

She rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean,” she retorted with a smile.

“What’s even better is when I first heard what happened to the Lost Princess, I decided I would be the one to save her. It was gonna be an epic Flynn Rider quest, save the damsel in distress and earn the gratitude of the kingdom.”

She giggled. “Was the real quest everything you dreamed it would be?”

“Well, I gotta say, when I played it out in my head I didn’t think I would die. Not to mention, I’ve been the one in distress far more than you,” he quipped.

Rapunzel laughed again, then lifted her head up to kiss his cheek. They fell into a comfortable silence as they continued to watch the lanterns light up the sky. She thought about how every lantern in the sky was released by someone. Each person had their own story of why they were there and what the lanterns meant to them. The lanterns were more than just her way home, it was a way of connecting for all of Corona.

She looked at Eugene. He was her dream and the love of her life, and it all started because of the lanterns. She didn’t want to think about where they could both be right now without these lanterns. Too much of life is spent on “what ifs,” and all she wanted to focus on was “now.” Right now, she is happier than she ever thought anyone could be, and didn’t even want to imagine her life differently.

“I love you,” she said, beaming. She didn’t know how to tell him everything she was thinking, she hoped those three words encapsulated it enough. Given by the look he gave to her in response, they did.

“I love you too, Sunshine.”


End file.
